Charlotte,
I think you'll find that students will react well to this plan.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I am very guilty of trying to respond to students' emails as soon as possible so that they can move forward with their assignments. Obviously I need to be available during my scheduled office hours, but otherwise, I could check e-mail once in the morning and once in the afternoon and respond to all questions during those 2 time periods.
Hello,
Any email coming from Financial Aid I address immediately, sometimes dropping other tasks (this is what I was told to do, because the information/assistance I provide allows them to respond quickly to Corporate/students, etc).
Soft policy for students is to reply to email within 24 hours and they are aware I don't answer school email after 5pm or on the weekends.
Co-workers haven't provided any input, negative or positive, regarding when/timeliness of my responding to them.
Javaid,
Setting "appointments" to answer emails seems to be the best way to deal with volume and the expectations of immediate responses.
Jeffrey Schillinger
One of the biggest time waster to me is receiving emails every minute asking for immediate response. Sometimes, managers dont give enough time to respond and expect that everybody is sitting on the computer responding to email. This is an unrealistic expectation. I have started avoing the temptation of responding to emails and have set time to respond unless it is really important and time limit.
Mary,
This sounds like a solid plan. How have your co-workers and students reacted to your revised behavior regarding email?
Jeffrey Schillinger
I find email in general to be a huge time-waster; both sending and checking email. I'm aware email is a 'necessary evil' when conducting business and doing my job.
However, on a personal level I have decreased my time on email, deleted myself off listservs and migrated to one email.
While at work, I have my email account set up so I can 'preview' the emails that I receive. This helps me to prioritize emails (those that need immediate response vs those that can wait). This helps me stay on task and not 'react' quickly, which can lead to unwarranted stress.
Meeting requests and requests for involvement in activities relating to the company that are irrelevant to the overall mission of what my job entails. I have learned to pick and choose which ones are necessary for me to be better at my job and what is gong to help me to accomplish my goals and those that are time suckers. Too much time is wasted on holding meetings not only for things that are not "closest to the dollar", but meetings that are scheduled that are too lengthy and scheduled during the most productive hours of the days. I have gained my voice when it comes to denying requests and being able to delivering my non-attendance in a way that doesn't make me seem like a non-team player, but someone who is concentrated on the work at hand.
Judy,
We are glad you found value in the course.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I found the list of time-wasters to be insightful. Simply recognizing that material things...possessions and clutter...may perpetuate tne consumption of valuable time was an important "ah ha" moment. I have taken many time management courses and seminars over the years, but this is the first to point out this simple, but important fact. Thank you!
My personal time waster is my cell phone. I have it on me all the time and I check it to see if I have amy missed calls or email. Today I forgot it at home and realized I got lots more work accomplished without it. Great lesson, learned!
I used to do the same thing but now I check at specific times each day. I use Outlook's new mail "ding" that sounds when mail arrives and a quick glance at the alert lets me know if it requires immediate action. I don't open Outlook until the designated email time slot. It works for me and reduces stress too.
Beatriz,
Exceptional customer service does not necessarily mean "instantaneous" customer service.It may be helpful to establish office hours or to have an "on-duty" advisory while you are busy on other things.
Jeffrey Schillinger
I find that I have several time- wasters during the day. The first is replying to email and voice mail, it just takes too much time from the day. The other two are unscheduled drop- in students and unscheduled meetings. Unfortunately, it’s been ingrained into me that all of the above are necessary in providing exceptional customer service.
However, this is the mentality that I must change. If I check my email and voice mail, once I get into work in the morning and maybe only limit- I say this with great hesitation - it to 2 more times per day, I should have more time open up. I know for a fact that I will not be able to control the unscheduled meetings, but I can control the drop-in student. I just need to determine if it’s urgent or not and schedule appointments for those students.
I understand that this is not only a skill that needs to be acquired, but also a behavioral change that needs to take place. I also know that it’s something that takes time… so I won’t have the perfect time management system the first time around. I’m ready to make mistakes, miscalculations, and revamp it often.
Chrissy,
What are you doing to change your behavior relative to email or web surfing?
Jeffrey Schillinger
I find that checking my emails or simply looking something up on the computer waste alot of my time.
People that use the personal phones o check into Facebook.
Daniel,
Office hours, usually just before or just after a class meeting, are usually effective.
Jeffrey Schillinger
Another huge time waister for me as an instructor is unsheduled student visits. I tend to drop anything in order to explain a complex concept to a student which I consider to be great customer service but often prevents me from delivering basic customer service to other students, I.E. fininishing my weeks grading in a timely matter.
As an instructor it is really dificult for me not to acomodate students who show interest above and beyond class materials. That being said I't would probably be usefull to provide these students with a scheduled time when these questions could be addressed.
One of the largest time waisters in the school I work for is the fact that we are actually very passionate about the subject we teach and often end up discussing complex subjects and going of on tangents during meetings instead of getting our work done. This often happens halfway through curriculum development meetings or when sharing a room whith another instructor while we are both grading student homework. We are allways talking about work related subjects but not necesarily staying on task in terms of what has to be done right now.
